Michael Graydon President B.C. Lottery Corporation listens as Paragon Gaming CEO Scott Menke take media questions after Vancouver City council turned down the $500-million Edgewater Casino expansion in Vancouver on Tues., April 19, 2011. In January 2014, Graydon bolted from the BCLC executive suite for a company affiliated to Paragon that wants to build a casino in Vancouver.Les Bazso
/ PNG

In January, Michael Graydon bolted the B.C. Lottery Corporation executive suite for a company that wants to build a casino in Vancouver.NICK PROCAYLO
/ PNG

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VICTORIA — At first glance, the government press release could have been mistaken for a relic of the B.C. Liberals’ first year in office.

“Accountability principles strengthen public sector governance,” it announced Wednesday, referring to standards of conduct that would apply to Crown corporations and other government agencies.

“Provincial public sector organizations will operate under new principles that strengthen accountability, promote cost control, and ensure they operate in the best interest of taxpayers.”

Really? Weren’t these folks elected 12 years ago on a promise to do all that and more, being the party that was going to manage the heck out of every one of your hard-earned tax dollars?

Still, there was no mistaking the current date on the release, nor the up-to-the moment vow from Premier Christy Clark.

“One of this government’s core values is respect for the taxpayer’s dollar,” she was quoted as saying. “We received a mandate to control government spending and ensure the best possible use of government resources.”

She and her colleagues did indeed get a mandate to do that. It was right there in the 2001 election platform, point #10 on the vision statement, promising: “Responsible, accountable management of your public resources and tax dollars.”

Christy Clark was co-chair of that election campaign. When the Liberals went on to win the election, she was named deputy premier in a government that (as Wednesday’s release had it) “created policy guidelines for Crown corporations that at the time were acknowledged to be leading edge for Canada.”

But somehow, over the ensuing decade, the Liberals slackened in their enforcement of that once-leading-edge framework for accountability.

“The guidelines and the annual government letters of expectation have become routine in application, cluttered with administrative policy, and lacking in clear and measurable priorities.”

The quote is from the nine-page statement of Taxpayer Accountability Principles, a.k.a. the TAP report, which accompanied Wednesday’s press release.

“This lack of clear direction has led to decisions and direction by some public sector entities that appear inconsistent with the values of B.C. citizens and the priorities of government,” it went on to admit. “In some cases, the public has come to believe that some government entities are acting on their own behalf and represent the interests of their executive and management team, which demonstrates a lack of respect for the shareholder: the citizens and taxpayers of B.C.”

A government lacking in clear direction and measurable priorities. Making decisions inconsistent with the values of British Columbians. Entities acting on their own behalf, as opposed to the interests of the paying public.

Sounds like what the New Democrats were saying about the Liberals in the last election. Turns out the Liberals, who wrote the TAP report, think they had a point, leastways so far as government appointees go.

“Board members and governors of public sector entities need to understand their role as representatives of the shareholder and their fiduciary duty to the citizens and taxpayers of the province,” states the report. “There needs to be better understanding among provincial public sector entities of their role in achieving public policy, particularly with respect to providing quality service to customers (B.C. citizens) at a price that is cost-conscious. “

This process of improved accountability started with the Crown corporation reviews launched by Clark after she was sworn in as premier in spring 2011, replacing Gordon Campbell. But as the report makes clear, “there is a need to establish stronger and clearer relationships across the whole public sector.”

Hence the six new principles for taxpayer accountability: “Cost-consciousness, accountability, appropriate compensation, service, respect, and integrity.”

(There will now be a brief pause while any teachers who are reading along decide whether to laugh or cry.)

The principles are yoked to an 11-point action plan aimed at enshrining each of the six into a series of ministerial directives to boards and CEOs, with an obligation to report back to cabinet periodically on progress made in improving accountability.

Road not taken: none of the 11 points addresses the obvious utility of activating the legislature’s watchdog on Crown corporations, which has not had a proper meeting nor mandate in six years.

As to what prompted the timing on all this, the following admonition to Crown corporations provides a clue: “Make decisions and take actions that are transparent, ethical and free from conflict of interest. Require the establishment of a strong ethical code of conduct for all employees and executives.”

A reference, presumably, to the fallout from that incredible turn of events earlier this year, when CEO Michael Graydon exited the executive suite at B.C. Lottery Corporation and surfaced a week later with a private company seeking to develop a casino in Vancouver.

Even the Liberals were caught off guard because neither guidelines nor policy prevented the sudden switch. Finance Minister Mike de Jong was so shocked, he ordered an investigation, which is still pending.

But in the interim, I’d see this new policy statement as partly an effort to make sure such an embarrassment never happens again.

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